a few excerpts:

She [clinton] planned to put together a great campaign team, a Dream Team. It did not turn out that way, however.

One Clinton campaign staffer said that Mike Henry, the deputy campaign manager, stalked around Clinton headquarters in Ballston, Va., with a baseball bat in his hand.

Another said Solis Doyle stayed in her office watching soap operas and refused to return the phone calls of governors, members of Congress and Bill Clinton.

And there were suspicions that Mark Penn, the campaign's pollster and chief strategist, "cooked the books" in presenting his polling results. (All denied the accusations.) It was that kind of campaign.

The Obama campaign was proud not only of what it had, but also of what it lacked: drama. It did not prepare just for its victories, but, just as importantly, it prepared for its defeats: It had a careful plan in place to keep Clinton's delegate victories to the narrowest margins possible. Virtually all of the Obama top staff understood the math that would lead to the nomination. Hardly anyone in the Clinton campaign did.

:::hei

Obama's main concern however, was whether his campaign could compete with the Clintons (they were almost always viewed in the plural by Obama and his campaign), both financially and organizationally.

"We thought we had to be almost a perfect campaign to win," said Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, "because she was so strong."

:::

While Clinton's fundraising was going well, it was expensive fundraising, much of it done by direct mail, one of the most expensive forms of fundraising there is. (The cost of paper, printing and postage all adds up fast.) Obama was raising his millions on the Internet, which was cheap. Why couldn't Clinton do the same?

"We tried," McAuliffe said. "But we had a 60-year-old woman who voted for the war. That's a fact. The online community is very liberal."

"People in our campaign were in shock that Obama raised what he did," a top Clinton adviser said. "It belied our arrogance that nobody else could meet her on the field of battle."

:::

Plouffe had thought the Obama campaign was going to have to be nearly perfect, because Clinton's campaign was going to be so strong.

So was he surprised when her campaign didn't turn out to be as strong as he thought?

"Yes," Plouffe said. "And grateful every day."

 complete text in pdf format

the clintons were, and still are, delusional...she lost...and they've both been sore losers regardless of what's been, or will be, said. they've been given an opportunity, deservedly or not, ymmv, to resurrect their legacy. it remains to be seen if they're big enough to do it.

the revolution will not be televised...